Phrasal Verbs

Question 1

To set foot

Answer 1

If you say that someone sets foot in a place, you mean that they enter it or reach it, and you are emphasizing the significance of their action. If you say that someone never sets foot in a place, you are emphasizing that they never go there.

• …the day the first man set foot on the moon.
• A little later I left that place and never set foot in Texas again.

Question 2

To throw in sth

Answer 2

to include something extra when selling something:

-I bought a new sofa and they threw in a chair.

Question 3

To lap up sth

Answer 3

to buy, listen to, or do something very enthusiastically:

-Young people there are lapping up just about everything to do with pop culture from Japan.

Question 4

To wear sb out

Answer 4

to make someone extremely tired:

-Walking around a museum all day really wears you out.

Question 5

To wear off

Answer 5

If a feeling or the effect of something wears off, it gradually disappears:

-Most patients find that the numbness from the injection wears off after about an hour.

Question 6

To long for sth

Answer 6

to want something very much:

• She longed to see him again.
• I’m longing for news of him.

Question 7

To fall over

Answer 7

(1) If someone falls over, they fall to the ground:
- She tripped and fell over

(2) - over sth/sb
to cover something or someone:

-A shadow fell over her work and she looked up to see who was there.

Question 8

To trip (sb) up

Answer 8

(1) to fall because you hit your foot on something, or to make someone fall by putting your foot in front of the other person’s foot:
- I’m terribly sorry. I didn’t mean to trip you up.
- She tripped up on the rug.
(2) to make a mistake, or to cause someone to make a mistake:
- The exam went quite well, until I tripped up on the last question.
- In the interview, they kept trying to trip me up.

Question 9

To rub out

Answer 9

erase

Question 10

To map sth out

Answer 10

to plan something in detail:

• The department has issued a new document mapping out its policies on education.
• His future is all mapped out ahead of him.

Question 11

To come up

Answer 11

(1) to move towards someone:
- A young girl came up to me and asked for money.
(2) If a job or opportunity comes up, it becomes available:
- A position has come up in the accounts department.

Question 12

To come up against sth

Answer 12

to have to deal with a problem:

-If you come up against difficulties, let me know and I’ll help out.

Question 13

To come up with sth

Answer 13

to suggest or think of an idea or plan:

-He came up with a great idea for the ad campaign.

Question 14

Sling sth out

Answer 14

to get rid of something unwanted:

-What about these old magazines? Shall I just sling them out?
She was slung out of college because she never did any work.

Question 15

To get the hang of

Answer 15

to learn how to do something, especially if it is not obvious or simple:

-“I’ve never used this program before.” “Don’t worry - you’ll soon get the hang of it.”

Question 16

To be hung up on sth

Answer 16

to be extremely interested in or worried by a particular subject and spend an unreasonably large amount of time thinking about it:

-Why are you so hung up on getting everything right?

Question 17

To cut up

Answer 17

to behave in a very active and silly way in order to make people laugh:

-There are a couple of kids who are always cutting up in class.

Question 18

To be caught up in sth

Answer 18

(1) so involved in an activity that you do not notice other things:
- I was so caught up in my school work, that I didn’t realize what was happening with my sister.
(2) To be caught up in something also means to be involved in an activity that you did not intend to be involved in:
- He got caught up in the demonstrations and got arrested.

Question 19

To fall out

Answer 19

(1) If a tooth or your hair falls out, it becomes loose and separates from your mouth or head:

• Her baby teeth are starting to fall out.
• A side effect of the treatment is that your hair starts to fall out.

(2) to argue with someone and stop being friendly with them:

• He left home after falling out with his parents.
• She’d fallen out with her boyfriend over his ex-girlfriend.

Question 20

To fall apart

Answer 20

to break into pieces:

• My poor old boots are falling apart.
• The deal fell apart because of a lack of financing.
• Their marriage fell apart when she found out about her husband’s affair.

Question 21

To break down

Answer 21

If a machine or vehicle breaks down, it stops working:

-Our car broke down and we had to push it off the road.

Question 22

To draw on sth

Answer 22

to use information or your knowledge of something to help you do something:

• His novels draw heavily on his childhood.
• She had a wealth of experience to draw on.

Question 23

To be at one

Answer 23

to agree:

-We disagree on most things, but on this question we are at one (with each other).

Question 24

To cling (on) to sth

Answer 24

to try very hard to keep something:

-He clung on to power for another ten years.

Question 25

To spice up sth

Answer 25

to add spice to food to make it more interesting:

-Ty is always looking for ways to spice up a recipe.

If you spice up something you add excitement or interest to it:

-That bluesy sound really spices up Hargrove’s music.

Question 26

To run into sth

Answer 26

If you run into problems, you begin to experience them:

-We ran into bad weather/debt/trouble.